The present invention relates to a device for weighing an object by lifting it. It applies to the weighing of all kinds of objects, particularly heavy and bulky ones. However, it will be explained hereinafter in the more particular context of the weighing of aircraft.
It is known that, in order to weigh an aircraft, weighing devices each provided with an electronic compression sensor, for example arranged at the end of a ram or similar lifting appliance can be arranged under each of the wheelsets, and said airplane is lifted by action of said rams, said sensors being pressed between the corresponding ram and the corresponding wheelset. As a result, the measurement of the compressive load, which measurement is delivered by a sensor, is representative of the mass of that part of the aircraft which has been raised by the corresponding ram.
However, such a weighing can be representative of the true mass of the aircraft only if no parasitic transverse force, for example due to deformation of the aircraft, enters into the lifting operation during weighing. Hence, in order to be sure of obtaining a sufficiently precise measurement of the mass of an aircraft, the latter has to be transported to a special weighing site equipped with a fixed-station weighing system.
Of course such sites are expensive, and the business of weighing an aircraft is a lengthy one because said aircraft has to be taken to the special weighing site then taken away again.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome this drawback. The invention relates to a device allowing an aircraft to be weighed in situ without having to move it.